Doctor's lawyer now charged in drug case

NORRISTOWN – A Montgomery County defense lawyer who once represented a doctor accused of running a pill mill for addicts must answer to charges in county court that he allegedly sold oxycodone to an undercover detective.

Gregory Robert Noonan, 53, of the 100 block of Oberlin Terrace, Towamencin, waived his preliminary hearing Friday before District Court Judge Margaret Hunsicker on charges of possession and delivery of controlled substances, possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal use of a communications facility and dealing in the unlawful proceeds of criminal activities in connection with two alleged oxycodone sales to undercover detectives between Nov. 23 and Dec. 19.

Noonan, a widely-known lawyer in Montgomery County legal circles who has an office in Norristown, was returned to jail in lieu of $99,000 cash bail to await his formal arraignment in county court later this year. Court testimony previously revealed that Noonan, who has clients incarcerated in the Montgomery County jail, is being held in the Chester County jail.

With the charges, authorities alleged Noonan sold an undercover Philadelphia police officer 179 oxycodone pills, with the agreement he’d be paid $15 per pill, while the pair met inside Noonan’s 1997 Jaguar vehicle parked in the 500 block of Swede Street in Norristown about 6:55 p.m. Nov. 23.

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Noonan allegedly called the undercover officer again on Dec. 19 and set up another meeting in Norristown, where the officer gave Noonan $3,250 in cash for a pill bottle containing 180 oxycodone pills, according to county detectives. Noonan was arrested after the second alleged drug delivery.

“Prescription drug abuse is a major problem so to see an officer of the court engage in this type of behavior is very disappointing,” said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Jason Whalley, who is prosecuting Noonan on the allegations.

After Noonan is formally arraigned in February, his trial date will be set.

Court papers did not reveal Noonan’s source for the prescription painkillers he allegedly sold.

The alleged Nov. 23 drug sale, according to court documents, occurred just one day after Noonan wrapped up a trial in Montgomery County Court where he defended Franconia doctor Richard R. Ruth, who was accused of running a so-called pill mill for drug addicts. A jury, on Nov. 22, convicted Ruth, 78, of charges he ran a corrupt organization from his medical office in the 200 block of Cherry Lane by repeatedly prescribing oxycodone to drug dependent patients.

In court documents, authorities made reference to the trial, indicating that “despite the trial and the verdict” on Nov. 22, Noonan allegedly made unsolicited contacts with the undercover police officer the following morning.

“We are seeing a dramatic trend in Montgomery County of rising opiate abuse in both children and adults. We must stop this dangerous trend,” District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said in a prepared statement after Noonan’s arrest. “One of my priorities is to investigate and prosecute prescription pill traffickers. As you can see from this arrest of a lawyer and our recent successful prosecution of a doctor, no one is above the law, no matter what occupation they hold.”

The Ruth trial was one of the first in Montgomery County at which a doctor was charged with overprescribing medications like oxycodone for profit, an issue that has garnered national attention in recent years. During the trial, First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele argued Ruth “decimated a community” by getting people addicted to painkillers.

But Noonan argued to the jury that Ruth simply ran a small town practice and wanted to help heal working-class patients who complained of chronic ailments such as back pain.

An investigation of Noonan was launched, according to court documents, after the county’s Narcotics Enforcement Team received a tip earlier this year that Noonan allegedly was involved in the illegal distribution of narcotics.

The Philadelphia Police Department supplied the services of an experienced undercover police officer for the investigation, court documents indicate.